Cultural Sensitivity And Cultural Awareness

Decent Essays
‘Cultural Sensitivity’. ‘Cultural Awareness’. ‘Cultural Intelligence’. These terms pop up repeatedly when investigating global management strategy. In team management, human resource management, and trade management it is evident that at least those three attributes are necessary to successfully manage any type of global industry or commerce. According to Taylor M Carpenter in the Principles of Management , ‘Fortune 500 companies have reported a shortage of global managers having the necessary skills’, leaving these companies unable to implement global strategies due to lack of capable leadership. An example of deficient cultural sensitivity can be attributed to the consequential decision made by Pepsico to use a light blue color in their …show more content…
Commonplace events like a brainstorming meeting, an interview, or a negotiation can take on many different nuances depending upon the culture of the people involved in the transaction. For instance; a German job candidate is culturally programmed to look the interviewer in the eyes and answer questions directly, while a Japanese candidate is more likely to avoid eye contact out of respect for their superior and temper their answers as a sign of modesty. If the interviewer were lacking cultural intelligence, they might easily misinterpret both reactions - the German perhaps as brusque and the Japanese as …show more content…
(2016, May 25) Building Rapport Across Cultures [Harvard Business Review] Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/05/building-rapport-across-cultures

Livermore, D. (2016, May 27) Leading a Brainstorming Session with a Cross-Cultural Team [Harvard Business Review] Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/05/leading-a-brainstorming-session-with-a-cross-cultural-team Kirkman, B., Steel, P., Taras, V. (2016, May 18) Research: The Biggest Culture Gaps Are Within Countries, Not Between Them [Harvard Business Review] Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/05/research-the-biggest-culture-gaps-are-within-countries-not-between-them MacLachlan, M. (2010, November 30) Cultural Sensitivity Training – Helping your Company to Work Successfully across Cultures [Communicaid.com] Retrieved from https://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/blog/cultural-sensitivity-training-helping-your-company-to-work-successfully-across-cultures/

MacLachlan, M (2010, December 13) Hiring Overseas: Can Cultural Awareness Training Help HR Professionals Manage the Economic Crisis? [Communicaid.com] Retrieved from

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